Dyslipidemia caused by elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is one of the causes of atherosclerosis. This study aims to determine the purple sweet potato extract (PSPE) as an antiatherogenic agent in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. In total, 32 adult male Wistar rats were separated into two groups. A randomized pre-and post-test control design was performed. Before treatment, the lipid profile and the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), protein Netrin-1, and apolipoprotein-E (Apo-E) were all evaluated. Group 1, the control group, received a high-cholesterol diet (control), while Group 2 received a high-cholesterol diet supplemented with 200 mg/ml PSPE. Group 2 hereafter will be mentioned as the PSPE group. Both groups were treated by respective treatment for 3 months. At the end of the treatment, the evaluation of necessary parameters was carried out with the pretest. Paired t-test data was obtained. The results showed that the treatment given to Group 2 (high-cholesterol diet supplemented with PSPE) was able to reduce and maintain total cholesterol levels in the posttest by 131.02 ± 4.3 mg/dl when compared to the control group, which was 261.25 ± 18.74 mg/dl in the posttest. There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in triglyceride (131.27 ± 1.9 mg/dl), LDL (18.33 ± 4.6 mg/dl), and MDA levels (0.6 ± 0.04 mmol/ml) in the PSPE group compared with the control group in the same parameters. However, there was an increase in the levels of high-density lipoprotein (86.43 ± 1.9 mg/dl), SOD (5.22 ± 0.14 U/ml), Netrin-1 (115 ng/l), and Apo-E (107.52 ng/ml) in the serum of posttest on PSPE group, but not shown in the control group. Following our findings, 200 mg/ml PSPE treatment successfully maintained a lipid profile by reducing oxidative stress and increasing Netrin-1 and Apo-E levels in Wistar rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. These findings indicate that PSPE displays antiatherogenic effects and is possible to be utilized as a new atherosclerosis therapy, whose mechanism of action is described in this study.
Key words: Netrin-1, Apo-E, purple sweet potato, high cholesterol diets, anti-atherogenic
|
